World Series Game 3 is traditionally a huge World Series swing game. The World Series Game 3 tonight is as big as any for the Yankees and Phillies. Tonight, the World Series Game 3 will put one team up 2-1, and put the loser in a very bad position. When all is said and done, the World Series Game 3 could be the one that turns the whole series around, assuming that the loser can’t recover. For both the Yankees and Phillies, they cannot afford to be halfway to elimination tonight.
Heading into the World Series Game 3, the Phillies are right where they wanted to be. They split things in New York, even though they lost the chance to go up 2-0. However, they have three straight games in the intimidating Citizens Bank Park, where they swept their way to the championship last year.
The World Series Game 3 could still put the Phillies in a position to do that again, but a loss could be hard to recover from. Whatever happens in tonight’s Game 3 will determine whether Charlie Manuel was brilliant, or foolish, to save Cliff Lee for Game 5.
If the Phillies win Game 3, they are up 2-1, and the Yankees are back against the wall. New York will then need to win Game 4, or else they would be down 3-1 with Lee set to finish it off Monday night. To plan ahead for that, the Yankees have announced C.C. Sabathia as the Game 4 starter on three days rest, according to the Associated Press.
If the World Series Game 3 goes to the Yankees, Manuel will be under fire for not starting Lee tomorrow. If they are down 2-1, they have only Joe Blanton to throw against Sabathia in Game 4, and could be in a 3-1 hole of their own before Lee faces A.J. Burnett.
The Phillies could have the absolute best or worst road possible ahead to a repeat, depending on the World Series Game 3. With struggling Cole Hamels facing postseason workhorse Andy Pettitte tonight, the Phillies are in even worse need for Hamels to excel again.
So far, the World Series has been going exactly how it went last year for Philadelphia. They won Game 1 under their dominating ace, then lost Game 2 when their bats went cold, just like last year. And in last year’s World Series Game 3, they sent out a pitcher who had done even worse in his past two starts than Hamels has this year.
Yet in 2008, Jamie Moyer rebounded from two bad starts to shut down the Rays, and the Phillies took control the rest of the way. Now they trust Hamels to do the exact same thing and put them back ahead of New York.
The World Series Game 3 will put the winner halfway to a championship, and put the loser one step closer to dire straits. Despite some possible rain, the game is set to start on time at 7:57 p.m. est on FOX.
Sources
Associated Press- “Sabathia to start World Series Game 4 for Yankees”
Philadelphia Daily News- “Phillies-Yankees: World Series Game 3 preview”
Yahoo Sports- “Phillies face Cole hard facts”
